Adventure #17

Last Session…

he elf rogue Elgweth found himself cursed by a journal belonging to a Red

Wizard of Thay. They had just finished clearing out Wyvern Tor and were

heading to Cragmaw Castle when they decided to confront the necromancer a

second time. The necromancer, calling himself KERAPTIS, did not survive the

encounter, but the spellbook he left behind apparently belonged to the BLACK

SPIDER, the drow elf the party had killed in the Lost Mines, the same drow

that had been orchestrating the Redbrands in Phandalin and the goblins in

Cragmaw and possibly even the orcs at Wyvern Tor, all in the hopes of

salvaging the Forge of Spells. A Forge now in the possession of a maniacal

beholder mage.

The Black Spider is dead - sort of - reanimated as a zombie minion by the

beholder Xezzlomax, but the drow’s journal uncovered a new mystery that

changes everything, something about a mysterious place called White Plume

T

Mountain as the seat of the curse upon

Elgweth. Twin “K” tattoos have appeared on

the backs of both his hands and he now

possesses a supercharged Magic Missile spell in

his memory, cast at 8th level when he spends a

1st level slot, so the damage output is

devastating.

But according to the journal the tattoo is just

the first stage of a debilitating doom, one which

the Black Spider was also a victim. Vile

dreams, visions, unwanted thoughts and the

presence of another intelligence are soon to

come. How the necromancer came to be

cursed as well by “Keraptis” they don’t know,

or how he came by the journal, or how the

ogress mother of Wyvern Tor also had an

identical tattoo.

To find answers to these questions they headed

back to Phandalin to wait for Sildar Hallwinter

and the others who would hopefully return

with a regiment of soldiers from Neverwinter.

And return they did! With no less than 20

shining Neverwinter Knights in gleaming gold

chain and plate. To sweeten the deal even

further, their old companion Fyghta Wan had leveled up to 6th after being

suffused by magic from the Deck of Many Things, so he’s now technically the

strongest person in the group but relegated to purely NPC status.

The Neverwinter Knights do have a leader amongst them, not counted as one of

the twenty, by the name of Sir Gerard, but the players opt to call him

Threadbeard.

He’s a fast talking, order-spewing, hardcore drill sergeant of a man who fully

embodies all the verbal traits and idiosyncrasies of Sgt. Apone.

“Buck up, soldier! Tighten that gear!

Act like you’re a Neverwinter Knight, by

the high and mighty gods. Impress

me!”

He’s had two days on a march with

Sildar and Gundren and Fyghta Wan,

so he’s been fully briefed on everything

to expect in the Lost Mine of

Phandelver, but he still scrutinizes

Elgweth, Cora, Carp and Thorin,

making it clear that he brooks no

cowardice among his troops,

newcomers included. Well, Elgweth

isn’t too keen on being reprimanded by

this red-thread-bearded captain, Sir

Gerard (I’m just calling him

Threadbeard from now on) and the elf is quick to point out all the devastating

“clearing” they’ve already accomplished in the region, including the Redbrands

(for better or worse) and Wyvern Tor and the bugbears and such in the Lost

Mine. Grunting, Threadbeard seems pleased enough with their bravado and

backs down. He’s not a bad sort, just gruff.

The entire brigade decides to leave first thing in the morning. It’s not far to the

entrance to the mine, now that they know where it is, and if they leave at dawn

they should arrive by evening. And they highly doubt any sort of creature will

dare to confront an overland party of 27 heavily armed people.

On the way Threadbeard, Fyghta Wan, Gundren, Sildar and the PCs discuss

their plan of action. The goal is A) to secure the Lost Mine, clear out the

encroaching forces and find a way to nullify the gateway to Mideon, if it’s even

still there. They don’t know and won’t know until they get inside. It has been

nearly SEVEN DAYS since they were last here so they have no idea what to

expect. Goal B) If possible, find the Black Spider, kill him, again, and have the

cleric use SPEAK WITH DEAD to learn about the Curse of Keraptis on Elgweth.

The group arrives at the mine at dusk, finding it nestled deeply in the foothills

of the Sword Mountains, but to their surprise and dismay they see that the

entrance has collapsed under a pile of rubble.

Grunting, their resident miner and explorer Gundren

Rockseeker taps the boulders with a pick, sniffs the

dust and tastes the chalky residue with a finger.

“This weren’t natural,” he says to everyone. “They

collapsed it on purpose. They don’t want none of us

going back in!”

Well, gods-be-damned, this puts Sir Threadbeard in a foul mood and he

immediately orders his soldiers to form a line and start hauling rubble out.

“Assholes and elbows! Get to it, then. A beautiful day to be a soldier. AND

WATCH THOSE CORNERS!”

It takes two hours, but finally there’s

enough room for Carp the halfing

druid to enact a rather daring,

audacious plan – he transforms into a

mouse and slips into the tiniest crack

available, hoping to scout on the

interior before they enter in a huge

group. The digging alone has

undoubtedly attracted someone’s

attention by now.

Carp-the-mouse scurries into the tunnel with darkvision, his nose and

whiskers twitching. There IS light in the foyer, coming from a glow globe from

the end of a rod stuck into a stalagmite. He scurries a circuit around the

room, seeing the old dead dwarf here from last time, as well as the bloody, slick

bones of what looks

like might have been a

bugbear. Carp the

Mouse’s goal is pure

reconnaissance, and

he has approximately

30 minutes to get this

done before he reverts

back to his normal

shape and size, and

he doesn’t want to be

stuck in this place

alone when that

happens. He doesn’t

notice anything else in the entry foyer and scampers down the rope to the

crumbled floor and the two tunnels branching east and west.

Then he hears it.

BBBOOOOOOOOOOONGGGGGGGG…

A deep, reverberating gong-like sound echoes from the western tunnel and then

fades to nothingness. It doesn’t sound anything like the Wave Echo they heard

before. This is new. Curious, he pokes a head in but sees just dark tunnels

and he doesn’t advance that direction, opting instead to head east to where the

stirges first attacked.

The first time they were here the wide, high chamber was filled with the

desiccated bones of dwarves and orcs who died hundreds of years ago. They’re

still there, but a wide swath of SOMETHING sliding through the chamber has

pushed to the bones to the left and right. The swath of something’s passage

leads straight to the green fungus chamber, and that’s where Carp tentatively

crawls, failing to see the ROOF FULL OF PIERCERS AND DARKMANTLES…

He doesn’t enter. In fact, they’ve never entered this room, the carpet of green

fungus always intimidated them, but there’s something new here, a tall

stalagmite in the middle of the floor that Carp swears he doesn’t remember

being there. Fungus has already started growing up its sides and there’s no

evidence of anything else sliding into the room; the fungus would have already

covered it.

He also notices that the entrance on the far side has been bricked up. This is a

dead end now.

He looks in another room and sees a CHEST SITTING in the middle of the floor

that was not there previously. Strange. He backtracks and heads north,

peeking into the barrel chamber where they hid once. He sees that the door is

open and something oily and black and glistening quivers at the back of the

chamber, huddled among the barrels like some wet amoeba. Disgusted, he

leaves it alone and continues.

(Oddly enough, Googling “black pudding” reveals this unpleasant Euro treat :)

Then he hears the clacking sound. It’s from the chamber with the old dining

tables in the big, big central cavern room where there was a gaggle of ghouls

originally. The sound does not seem mechanical but rather natural or organic,

and Carp the mouse creeps forward and peeks around the corner.

A hulking black shape waits in total darkness. Two big pincers clack one after

the other, and it moves slowly around the room as if searching. To the right of

the room down the passage where they fought the Flame Skull, Carp sees it

has also been hastily bricked and mortared. Beyond the clicking, clacking

monster Carp spies a THIRD brick wall sealing off the corridor and stairs, but

this one is not complete. He knows where it leads – the Forge Room.

Carp wants to get by the thing so he scurries onto the table and knocks over

an old pewter urn draped in webs. It clatters loudly to the flagstones and the

monster pounds a wooden table out the way, lurching closer to investigate.

Carp runs past it, climbs the unfinished brick wall and enters the waterwheel

chamber.

He sees a bluish glow and hears a hum to the east where the Forge Room lies,

so creeping forward carefully, he peeks in here as well, and is somewhat

dismayed – the Eyeball Portal is right outside the Forge Room, but it’s TWICE

the size it used to be!

The door to the Forge Room is closed, and even though the PCs TOOK THE

FORGE TO THE BEHOLDER IN MIDEON, the green flame nearly sputtered out

and Gundren told them it would only work in conjunction with the Forge Room

in the mine. And then Carp the Mouse hears the thundering wave echo from

somewhere not far away in another part of the complex they never explored.

But he’s had enough. Time is running out and he wants to get back to the

others and tell them what he found.

So back he goes, dodging the big weird clacking hulk and he winds through the

corridors, and he’s about to climb up the rope to the main foyer when he hears

the sound again –

BOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG…

A deep reverberating bong, and this time he investigates. Elgweth had invisibly

mapped out these rough mining tunnels before and found several collapsed

dead ends, and it’s mostly the same this time…except for one.

One tunnel has been reopened and Carp the Mouse sees a green glow. The

tunnel slopes down into a wide, open cavern and it extends far beyond the

reach of his darkvision. He senses a wide open space and he sees another

glowing magical globe on a metal rod nearby, but this one is gonging at regular

intervals. That’s what was making the sound.

Almost like it’s deliberately trying to attract attention.

Screw that, he leaves the entry quickly, chills crawling up his furry back, and

climbs the rope to the main entrance where the soldiers have finally cleared a

big enough entrance for a human to crawl through. Carp transforms and tells

them everything he saw. But most importantly, this place is NOT empty!

There’s no sign of bugbears or goblins or drow or beholders, but there’s

something else crawling around in the darkness, and it ain’t pretty.

The PCs finally enter the mine and cross the entry chamber, but Elgweth has

no sooner set foot into the middle of the room before the the floor buckles and

curls up and clamps shut around him!

It’s a fake floor that looks exactly like a real floor, and it has him trapped,

squeezing tighter and tighter and trying to crush the life from him. Carp the

Mouse had walked right over it several times but didn’t trigger the thing, which

is some sort of flat organism with seamless, chameleon-like color and texture

control.

Elgweth manages to slip free and the heroes bombard the aberration with

attacks, soon destroying it.

The rest of the group enters the newly opened Lost Mine of Phandelver and

they take stock of the situation.

“Weapons out, boys!” barks Sir Threadbeard. Raspy clangs ensue and twenty

blades are drawn from scabbards. Four groups of five soldiers each are

formed, with Fyghta Wan, Sildar, Gundren and Threadbeard as squad leader of

each. The four PCs are a fifth squad on their own. Altogether there are 28

heavily armed people to take back the mine, and they hope that’s enough.

And then they slowly filter into the mine, Elgweth the rogue elf leading the way,

sort of, invisibly and stealthily. The trapper in the room before already

whammed him pretty bad and he’s not looking for another fight quite yet.

First things first, they return to the source of the BONGING sound and the

entrance the deep levels. Now, they’ve heard of the Underdark and they know

stories that there are deep, dark places beneath the world. This top level of the

Phandelver mine is not particularly deep, but the cavern he’s looking at now is

awash in darkness and shadows and cold, stagnant drafts.

“What can we do?” they ask Gundren, resident dwarf miner and expert. The

dwarf inspects the walls, traces a finger down the inky surfaces and tastes a bit

of dust and grime.

“We collapse it!” he says. “Bring me a barrel!”

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, they have brought three small kegs of black

powder from Phandalin. It’s not a whole lot, but enough to cause some serious

structural damage if needed. Gundren positions the barrel in the entrance,

lights the wick, and cautions the others to stand well back.

“It’s gonna be noisy, and every critter in this damn place is gonna hear it. Get

ready for some hell…”

And then it EXPLODES.

Dust and rock and debris are flung far and wide and the tunnel collapses

again, sealing off the giant chamber beyond from the twisting corridors of the

mine. The PCs WERE going to take the glowing gong globe but it would have

required them to step into the cavern, and something about that didn’t sit well

with them. I’m sure I had nothing to do with it, eagerly holding the d20 poised

and waiting for their decision….

And Gundren was right.

Soon after they hear distant squeals and sputtering and squeaking and

scuttling. It’s not like a whole brigade of human soldiers in metal armor and

waving torches was exactly stealthy anyway, but the thunderous explosion has

spread throughout the entire complex, alerting even the most blind and deaf of

things.

Elgweth clenches his teeth and slides down a corridor. They know that the

eastern side of the mine is bricked off, he wonders if the western approach is

the same. There’s a pool room they never fully investigated, but even as he

maneuvers toward the entrance he sees a big, black, leathery cloak hanging

across the entrance. And then the cloak moves.

Wings unfurl and bony ivory claws flex and fangs glisten and a serpentine tails

whips out and seconds later the horrible thing has LAUNCHED down the

hallway, screeching right toward a bewildered soldier who barely sees it coming

out of the gloom!

Screaming, the soldier raises his sword and thrusts it into the things milky

belly. Membranous wings flutter all around him and the creature lets loose an

unnatural moan that sets everyone’s teeth on edge, but one trait the

Neverwinter Knights share in common is great bravery and they’re all able to

resist the supernatural terror. Five swords hack into the flying bat thing and

then Thorin’s hammer cracks it upside the head. Elgweth melts into the

shadows, not wanting to enter the fray, but when the thing abruptly retreats it

is downed by a spell from the cleric and crumples at the Elgweth’s feet.

I’m going to wear that sonofabitch, he thinks, admiring the leathery cloak.

But the cloaker wasn’t the only horror alerted by

the explosion. Sildar’s squad is guarding another

route (each squad was stationed to keep watch

different directions) and all of a sudden Sildar alone

sees a glimmer of motion not ten feet away.

Something invisible in the darkness is nearly on top

of them!

“LOOK OUT!” he screams.

The entire hallway is filled with a transparent,

gelatinous mass of clear ooze and it surges forward,

completely engulfing a hapless soldier while

another one is pushed away.

Ooze fills his mouth and nostrils and he helplessly thrashes inside the cube,

acidic enzymes dissolving his flesh as the others watch in horror.

“At the thing!” bellows Sildar and they start attacking, cutting out big chunks

of the thing’s clear body. Blobs of quivering jelly fall to the floor, but it’s far too

late for the soldier inside, his flesh is liquefied and all that remains is floating

armor and wet bones. The cube barrels forward, trying to engulf two more

soldiers but they’re able to dodge it. They’re finally hack the thing into so

many tiny pieces that it falls apart, but this only makes room for something

even worse to enter the hall.

A soldier’s eyes go wide as he sees another monstrosity lumber in – and he

starts gibbering, his eyes roll back in his head and he swings at an ally in total

confusion, burying a blade in his shoulder.

“What are you DOING, man?”

This foes proves to be horrific, causing confusion in everyone nearby if they

meet its gaze. Sword clatter harmlessly off a shell that is hard as platemail,

and serrated claws cleanly cut a soldier in half, his upper body still screaming

on the way to the floor as his lower torso crumples. Even Sildar is befuddled

by the things gaze, standing listlessly by as his men are butchered, and

another soldier begins banging his head into a wall. Things would DEFINITELY

have gone for the worse if the PCs were not here to turn the tide of battle.

Thorin summons a Spiritual Guardian, this time taking the form of a glowing

fist of his god. The knights do manage to land some hits on the thing and

magical attacks from the warlock, but the real killer comes when Elgweth uses

his curse spell – the Magic Missile of Keraptis.

Ten glowing darts burst from his fingertips and explode into the monster for

nearly 50 points of damage. That, combined with the other hits, is sufficient to

finally drop the horrible thing.

Carp the druid peers down at the corpse.

I’m gonna wear that sonofabitch, he thinks.

Meanwhile Elgweth checks out the pool room but doesn’t go inside. The

stairwell here is bricked up as well, so their reconnaissance of the known part

of the labyrinth is complete: the invaders from Mideon have sealed off the

Forge Room parts of the mine and tried to summon as many horrible things as

they could to populate the rest of it. First line of defense: Underdark critters,

you’re up!

Things could have gone much, MUCH worse if they weren’t here. The hulking

monster would have ripped through the soldiers like a knife through butter,

easily killing half of them. The heroes put a stop to that and there’s only 3

casualties so far.

Next stop – The Portal to Mideon and the Forge of Spells

Their goal still is to secure the mine and make sure the beholder can’t get to

the Forge. Hopefully the Forge is back in the forge room, sans beholder, but

they’re not sure.

And if they can find the Black Spider somewhere that will be icing on the cake.

Thorin the cleric has already prepared Speak with Dead and Elgweth the elf

has some questions, namely – HOW DO I GET RID OF THIS CURSE?

But the Black Spider might only create more questions than answers….